Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Video and Photo-essay: At The Liberty Bell for Mumia on July 4

Video and Photo-essay: At The Liberty Bell for Mumia on July 4

--"Fourth of You Lie" protest exposes hypocrisy of Independence Day

by Hans Bennett

On the 4th of July, over 75 supporters of death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal gathered in Philadelphia to protest outside the Constitution Center, which is directly across the street from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. This event also marked the release of the third issue of the Journalists for Mumia newspaper, Abu-Jamal-News(VIEW PDF).

Also, be sure to watch previous the videos from May 10, April 19, March 31, and an interview with J. Patrick O'Connor, author of The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal (VIEW PARTS: 1, 2, 3)

The July 4 event featured a fiery speech from Pam Africa (coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal) who spoke about the significance of the "Fourth of You Lie" holiday in relation to Mumia's case, as well as the continued genocide of Native Americans, US wars of aggression, denial of parole to the MOVE 9, and more.

Theresa Shoatz is the daughter of political prisoner Russell "Maroon" Shoatz, who is housed at SCI-Greene along with Mumia. He is in urgent need of medical treatment, which has been denied by the prison authorities. Theresa has issued an action alert asking for support from the public.

Taina Asili (www.tainapoet.com) is a longtime supporter of Mumia, the MOVE 9, and all political prisoners.

As reported by Davey D, Alexander Billet, and The SF Bay View, members of Rebel Diaz (www.rebeldiaz.com) have recently been arrested and harassed by the NYPD. During their performance, Rebel Diaz asked "How is Mumia on death row, and Dick Cheney is free?".

--Photos, Video, and text by Hans Bennett (insubordination.blogspot.com), who is an independent multi-media journalist and co-founder of Journalists for Mumia, whose website is Abu-Jamal-News.com

"The newly discovered photographs reveal the fact that the police were actively manipulating evidence at the homicide scene." - Lead Attorney Robert R. Bryan

Photo 1: Mishandling the Guns - Officer James Forbes holds both Abu-Jamal's and Faulkner's guns in his bare hand and touches the metal parts. This contradicts his later court testimony that he had preserved the ballistics evidence.

Photos 2 & 3: The Moving Hat - Faulkner's hat is moved from the top of Billy Cook's VW, and placed on the sidewalk for the official police photo.

Photo 4: The Missing Taxi - Robert Chobert testified that he was parked directly behind Faulkner's car, but the space is empty in the photo.

The Missing Divots - On the sidewalk, where Faulkner was found, there are no large bullet divots, or destroyed chunks of cement, which should be visible in the pavement if the prosecution scenario was accurate, according to which Abu-Jamal shot down at Faulkner - and allegedly missed several times - while Faulkner was on his back. Dr. Michael Schiffmann writes: "It is thus no question any more whether the scenario presented by the prosecution at Abu-Jamal's trial is true. It is clearly not, because it is physically and ballistically impossible."